Remember the 4×4 Toyota Van that met an untimely near-death a few cars back? It appears that we were working on killing the un-killable. So for my next victim, I chose another similar Van. How long will a six hundred dollar Toyota Van go with minimal investment and a leaky radiator? Let us find out.

I missed my old Van very much, so when I saw the rarest of rare vans, a Toyota 4×4 five speed, on Craigslist for six hundred bucks, I had to jump on it. It was located in a small town some miles away from us and the man had several of them. He was selling all of them due to his girlfriend not liking them (thank god for girlfriends and wives, the best deals are because of them). The Van had been sitting and the front seats were in the back of it. He had repaired a radiator leak and then just left it. He said that the radiator would need replacing but that I could probably drive it home. We put the Van back together and gave it a jump start. It coughed to life and then settled into a nice Toyota sewing machine idle. The outside was a bit beat up, the interior was no so hot and was full of cobwebs. And to top it off the transfer case shifter knob had been replaced by a rubber Scooby Doo head. He called the van Scooby, because that’s how he got it (charming).

We aired up one of the tires and drove it around. The radiator wasn’t leaking (he had epoxied it) and it drove just fine. So I paid him the six hundred bucks and drove over to the department of motor vehicles to get the registration current. Next stop, the auto parts store for a new battery, coolant, and stop leak. And then we were on our way. I stopped several times to top it up with water but the radiator was holding fine. That was partly due to the fact that I left the cap loose to prevent pressure from building up for the time being. But we made it back without a hitch.

Next thing was to give it a good washing and to put the interior back together. I left the cobwebs for now though, since it really was just a beater.

I began using the Van for work. I had been out of work for a while and my friend Peter was retiring and selling his walk up coffee stand on the mall of our state capitol. So I purchased the business from him and though it didn’t make much money, at least I felt useful. The van fit my umbrella or awning plus my supplies perfectly.

After having used the Land Rover for this task, I was a little embarrassed driving this beater up on the mall every morning and afternoon to unload and load my stuff. But it was infinitely more practical than the Disco. Eventually after driving it long enough, I began to realize that besides having to add water to it every few days, it was not such a beater. I cleaned up the interior and began driving it as our primary family vehicle.

And of course it was a shoe-in for beach trips!

After all, if you can’t take your family to the beach in it, either because of poor fuel efficiency or because it’s a “project”, or another reason, than what’s the good in owning it?

Back in the seventies they used to call it the “Vannin Lifestyle” and as much as I hate the seventies, they might of had a point!

But I digress. You may wonder what happened to this little gem? A certain person who hails from Haiti and was mentioned in another post happened to it! You see, the unnamed person was in the habit of borrowing my Land Rover or Van for his camping trips with his wife. Since he owned Saabs this made perfect sense!

One day he asked to borrow the Van. I warned him bout the water, well you can guess the rest. Amazingly it did still run (sort of). But I knew I would never get around to rebuilding the engine, so I put it on Craigslist. Several days latter a lady called up and wanted to give me a deposit to hold it for a month. Normally I think scam, but she sounded legit. I told her all of it’s problems and sent detailed pics. She still wanted it bad. So I took her money via Paypal and held it. When she came down to get it she was ecstatic!

In the end I ended up making money on the deal and I figured that sort of let my friend “the destroyer” off the hook. But now I wish I could find another 4×4, manual, Toyota Van. However, I am a bit gun-shy now that two have met their near-death in my ownership!

19 Comments

Just as I was preparing my ignoble departure from Denver – a new job – out in Lakewood, on the west side of town, a 4×4 Toyota panel van came up for sale. Just the ticket! PERFECT for a camper-conversion; and with my new job, I could really have used it.

Alas. I didn’t have a nickel to spare; and I had a killer truck-payment besides. Much, much later, I got hold of a passenger van; and while the engine was dying a slow death from several previous overheats –

(man, that cooling system was marginal! Just filling a leaking radiator with water, before you got home and could put in a 50/50 mix, was enough to cause it to start running hot…)

– it was a GREAT driver. And I’ve always been partial to the flat-front-van layout. Love the driving experience. Had a 1969 Chevy briefly; it needed more work than I could afford and with no shop, doing it myself was out of the question. Had a Vanagon, which I liked but which nickel-and-dimed me to the curb; but the winner could have been, if I could have found one and found a way to upgrade the cooling system, would have been that generation of Toy.

Speaking of these vans, saw one the other day I think getting cash out of a Chase Bank teller machine. it was a panel that had 2 windows put in near the back, sliders at that so perhaps it was modified for camping duties, don’t know.

It looked straight, but the paint seemed a bit rough though but yes, it was being driven under its own steam as the guy had just parked it and had gotten out as I strode past on my way home from the grocery store.

Don’t know as this was in Seattle. it looked to be perhaps silver but being it was after dark, could not tell for certain, was it 4WD, don’t know either and I was far enough away to not get a very good look at it.

I believe those vans disappeared due to some horrible front and side impact ratings. I do recall seeing a few victims in the boneyards of So. Cal. and the wrecks looked perverse. Great sized van though, had a neighbor with one.

Sometimes, safety is overrated. You wouldn’t want one of those to be your daughter’s first car; but they did have their own positives. A lot of older utility vehicles didn’t score well; the Jeep CJ would cartwheel end-over-end; the Vanagon would just pancake right up to and past the front axle.

Rather than have government ban these things or their design, I think the fair way would be just to RATE them – and let buyers take their chances. Life is full of risks; every motorcyclist knows this; and frankly, city-bus riders aren’t going to fare well in head-on collisions, either…to say nothing of the drivers…

I agree with you on just rating them. But I must correct one slight flaw in what you said. The Vanagon had excellent frontal impact performance. The myth you are referring to seems to have started from a Youtube video of and orange Transporter pancaking into a wall in what looks like an impact test. I was worried about that and then I researched it and found video of real tests. The Youtube orange one was was to test the impact wall. If you watch it you will find that there are no reference markers, no dummies, no speed data etc. It was propelled at some ungodly speed to test the facility.
As for the Toyotas, I don’t know. But they have more bracing up front than you might think when you get to looking at them.

Didn’t know that, about the Vanagon-based Transporter. Yeah, I saw that; and since the engine weight was in the rear, and really nothing but the body ahead of the axle…it seemed logical that the front might collapse.

When the Toyota Van was released here new in 1986ish (badged a Tarago like Australia), Toyota made quite a thing about its good (for what it was) front impact performance, due to a ‘Y’ frame up front. The traditional chassis rails split into two in front of the front axle, sort of like a wishbone in a chicken. Toyota said it spread and absorbed impacts much better than competitor vans with a single rail. I remember lying under our old family one (an ex-Japan “Townace” badged model) in my teens, with the brochure in one hand and studying the chassis with the other…good times!

“Rather than have government ban these things or their design, I think the fair way would be just to RATE them – and let buyers take their chances.”

This. If you want to buy a safe car, get one with great safety ratings. If you can live with a car that’s less safe, then you should be free to buy one. Motorcycles are still allowed to be sold in the Nanny States of America, and they’re far less safe than any car.

They really didn’t sell well. I don’t know why; part of it was that it was old, conventional RWD technology, brought in from Japan quickly in answer to Chrysler’s new minivans. On first blush, the Toyota looks like an also-ran; with the added problem of accessibility for engine servicing.

But I’ve had acquaintance with both: the first generation ChryCo minivan, and this Toyota. The Toyota feels a LOT more substantial; has superior forward visibility and driving position; is shorter but with more interior room. But it does sit higher; and while I don’t remember the mileage on my Toyota (I measured gallons of Prestone per trip) I expect, with the hypoid gears in the rear end, it lost out there.

But it was no matter; the van was a stopgap until Toyota could bring in a better product, with the long carlike nose buyers expected. FWD was two redesigns away.

Fundamental problem is that your feet are in the crush zone. Had a guy at work years ago run up the back of a parked car at about 30mph, enough to slide the full-length roof rack about a foot forward. He ended up with a broken foot.

It has been very interesting reading, All your stories…I’ve had mine for several years, wishing to get it going…My Boyfriend seen it, & my 86′ 4×4 high runner Toyota, truck? He is so sweet…He’s been working on my Scooby Van(it’s funny to here someone else, calls it that..lol)..but Mine has the front captain chairs, but in the back, is a bench seat which folds out into a complete full size bed(I think)..It was my son’s, he sold it to my dad, and my dad gave it to me…It sat so long the gas turned into crud, and my sweetheart ordered a gas pump& all that stuff…I need to have the gas tank boiled out?…He thinks that’s it…crossing my fingers. 🙂 It started with starter fluid,as long as he sprayed, it ran! I can’t wait…just reading everything, Ya’ll are saying…I LOVE MY SCOOBY VAN! ty. 😀 Peggy, the happy camper! lol

I have two, an ’89 LE automatic and a recently acquired Deluxe 5-speed with only 164k. Both are 4X4s. The LE was sold to me by unacknowledged lot attendant with only 115k for the poultry sum of $3500.00 16 years ago. He asked when I came back the next day if I would back out of his agreement due to his angry boss, and all could say was “sorry”. My ’88 started out locally bought and owned and wound up sitting after a kid put dirt in the gas tank in 2003 as prank to get even with this old man. It was sitting a few weeks ago on the back of a scrappers trailer hours away from being pack with other junk and hauled for recycling. He put the only dent in front of the driver’s door the has body has. But I’m getting a little worried at 62 finding parts. I need a front Y-pipe for the exhaust to one day change with my spare new manifold and have run out of options. I’m a welder and fitter and am about to carefully take the OEM one apart, take the pieces to a muffler shop and build my own. KL

I had one of these 4 wd 1989 Toyota cargo van and loved it. I loved it so much that when it got into an accident (not my fault) I purchased another one with a blown engine just to fix it. I remember my son cried when I drove her home with a crushed nose. I did too…

Well my finances went down and i used the wrong guys to fix it and they messed it up big time. I could cry again, but years went by and finally I sold them for $1000 bucks. More tears. (actually they were inside tears) Anyway this morning I somehow got into the mood to make a search again if anybody has one for sale. Not that I have money right now, just for that sake of it. So I found this site. I read in your article that that guy who sold this to you had more then one of them. Do you think he (or anybody) still have and sells them? May be you could let me know? Here is my # 508.202.2507